.308, because it's everywhere and you likely won't ever have a use-case for the less frequently found sizes. If you find yourself pushing the limits of purchased .308, you can look into handloading for performance as well.

But the reality is .308 will work well enough for 98% of what you want to do, and the money you save by buying the most common caliber can immediately be put into the optic.

The top options to look at are .308 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield, 7mm Remington Magnum, .300 Winchester Magnum, and 6.5 Creedmoor.

It really does depend on your intended use with choosing one of these. Keep in mind that the differences in power and ballistics is almost negligible for most situations. For instance, 7mm and .300 Win Mag pack the most punch. 7mm has a slightly flatter shooting trajectory past 600yds. 6.5CM and .308 pack the least punch (6.5CM slightly less). 6.5CM has the flattest shooting trajectory of all of the calibers listed. .30-06 is in the middle in terms of power, but has arguably has the worst ballistics of all of them. .308 and .30-06 are the oldest cartridges and thus can be easily found everywhere. 6.5CM is the youngest. .308 and 6.5CM can fit into short-action rifles, so you can find lighter rifles to carry around (and some as AR platforms). All of these cartridges can hit a plate at 1000yds with practice.

Which one of these cartridges you choose depends on what you want to use it for. Hunting (medium game? big game? desert hunting? mountain hunting? thick forest? different recommendation depending)? Self-defense? Maximum long range?

I only own one rifle like that, so I'll tell you my experience. It's a Mossberg ATR 100 in .30-06. It's pretty long range, nice and accurate even with the default scope, and you don't really have to worry about drop at most distances, since the cartridge packs a lot of momentum. Oh yeah, the shooting.

I got this rifle 10 years ago as a skinny teenager. For two years after that I had to shoot it with a paperback book against my shoulder because the recoil was such a bitch. This rifle kicks it's user like a mule, but it kicks the target like a war elephant. I once saw an interview with a WW2 vet who said of his Garand: "If you hit a man above the belt with it, he was dead when he hit the ground." I can believe it.

Once I took it out to a desert shooting spot and shot a bowling ball I found in the rubble. The ammo I was using was a jacketed hollow point that mushroomed rather than bloomed. That bowling ball exploded so violently that anyone watching the video with the sound off would have to conclude that it had been filled with a violent hatred at the idea of being a solid object. By the way, they've got colored layers inside, like big jawbreakers. The child in me was very pleased.

That's the main thing. The sheer power of a scoped bolt action rifle, along with it's good accuracy, make this a weapon that enables someone with basic rifle skills and the element of surprise/concealment to score instantly incapacitating wounds at good ranges, to say nothing of actual sniping.

Final thoughts: -It sounds awesome. No bang, just boom. Like a giant bass drum

-If it was good enough to fight nazis, it's good enough for me.

-Ammo isn't cheap, but the low rate of fire forces you to make every shot count

-Haha bolt action go chik-chok, chik-chak

.308 win

9mm, 5.56, and .308 are the bullets.

All other ammunition will be generally more expensive, harder to come by, less consistent in quality control, and will have fewer options for factory ammo.

Going beyond the big three is great if you're into handloading, or if you're so rich you need a .338 bonafide sniper rifle. Other than that, use what the whole world uses.

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